Loretta Valenski: Don’t freeze solar expansion

There is a solar PV system on my roof. I absolutely love it. It does not produce air pollution, toxic coal ash or nuclear waste. Just electricity from sunlight.

Any electricity we do not use in our home is sent out to everyone else on the power grid. At the end of May each year, Duke Energy gets leftover energy we have produced for free. This year it was nearly 1,000 kWh.

We pay a monthly fee to be connected to the grid and are charged for electricity we use over what we produce, so contrary to some information, we are not getting a free ride. We are contributing power to everyone.

Growth in the North Carolina solar industry has occurred because our state had the foresight to require power companies to increase percentages of renewable energy over the past several years.

Now House Bill 332 contains a provision to freeze renewable energy requirements for power companies at current levels of 6 percent, instead of requiring 12.5 percent by 2021.

Our state is growing, and this bill will take us backward in sustainable energy development, effectively killing an industry that is providing good jobs.

This story was originally published June 15, 2015 at 4:39 PM with the headline "Loretta Valenski: Don’t freeze solar expansion."